GoToSocial is an open-source social media platform that allows users to create their own social networks. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install GoToSocial on Elementary OS Latest.
Before installing GoToSocial, ensure that you have the following:
GoToSocial requires some dependencies to be installed before you can run it. Use the following command to update the package list and upgrade the system:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
Next, install the required dependencies using the following command:
sudo apt install git curl wget unzip apache2 mariadb-server php php-curl php-gd php-mbstring libapache2-mod-php php-mysql
Composer is a dependency manager for PHP that will help us to install GoToSocial’s dependencies. Use the following command to download and install Composer:
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer -o composer-setup.php
sudo php composer-setup.php --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer
After installing Composer, you should see output that says “All settings correct for using Composer.”
Use the following command to clone the GoToSocial repository from GitHub:
git clone https://github.com/superseriousbusiness/gotosocial.git
Once the download is complete, change into the GoToSocial directory using:
cd gotosocial
Use the following command to install GoToSocial dependencies using Composer:
composer install --no-dev
This will install all the necessary packages required by GoToSocial.
Create a new virtual host configuration file by running:
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/gotosocial.conf
Add the following contents to the file:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin admin@example.com
ServerName example.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/gotosocial/public
<Directory /var/www/gotosocial/public>
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/gotosocial_error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/gotosocial_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Replace example.com with your domain name or IP address.
Save and close the file by pressing CTRL + X, then Y, and then ENTER.
Enable the new virtual host configuration file by running:
sudo a2ensite gotosocial.conf
Start by logging into the MariaDB database server as the root user:
sudo mysql -u root -p
Create a new database for GoToSocial:
CREATE DATABASE gotosocial;
Create a new user and grant it privileges on the new database:
GRANT ALL ON gotosocial.* TO 'gotosocial'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
Replace password with a secure password of your choice.
Once done, exit the MariaDB shell by running:
exit;
Use the following command to create a new copy of the .env.example file and name it .env:
cp .env.example .env
Edit the .env file by running:
nano .env
Update the following environment variables as shown below:
APP_ENV=production
APP_URL=http://example.com
DB_DATABASE=gotosocial
DB_USERNAME=gotosocial
DB_PASSWORD=password
Save and close the file by pressing CTRL + X, then Y, and then ENTER.
Migrate GoToSocial database tables by running:
php artisan migrate --seed
This will create all the necessary tables required to run GoToSocial.
Generate a new application key by running:
php artisan key:generate --force
Restart the Apache web server for the changes to take effect:
sudo systemctl restart apache2
Finally, open your web browser and navigate to your domain or IP address. You should see the GoToSocial login page.
In this tutorial, we have shown you how to install and configure your own instance of GoToSocial on Elementary OS Latest. Once you have GoToSocial up and running, you can start creating your own social network.
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